To Conquer
by NoviceNovelist
Summary: The Orichalcos was his guiding force and he should trust in it and its power. Short one-shot from Raphael's POV during his second duel with the Pharaoh.


To Conquer

_Once more, I will do what I must_.

So thought Raphael as he stared his opponent down. Yugi – the other Yugi, the Nameless Pharaoh, legendary soul that Master Dartz ordered him to capture. Even from where he stood, Raphael could easily see why Master Dartz wanted his soul; the Pharaoh was a powerful being, strong in his powers, who would feed The Great Leviathan and rush in a new era.

Raphael's heart clenched as two opposing forces battled for dominance within him. He could feel the Seal of Orichalcos' Darkness growing inside him, wrapping around his soul and feeding him power. Its brand on his head, Raphael smirked as Eatos and his other Guardians gained a boost in power.

And yet...

There was another force. A gentler one. A _soothing_ one. Raphael knew perfectly well where it came from.

Eatos. His ally, partner, friend, protector. Confidant. It was her who had maintained his sanity. Her whose card spirit had appeared to him first. Her who...

Her who he had corrupted.

Raphael knew it was only a matter of time. He didn't know how, he didn't know why, but he knew that the Pharaoh would take down Eatos and bring forth... a monster.

Dreadscythe.

Even with the Seal shrouding him, Raphael shuddered as he thought of that beast. Battle-wise, it was a truly magnificent creature, capable of reviving as many times as necessary. But... in appearance... and what it truly was...

That terrified him beyond belief, because he _knew_ two things. The first was that Dreadscythe was a corrupted Eatos, a fallen Eatos, a manifestation of the inner darkness that every living thing, no matter how pure, possessed.

And, because Eatos was such a pure being, her dark form was a _truly_ terrifying. When a being of light embraces their inner darkness, that Darkness has a vast amount of Light to feed on.

Raphael's heart – or what remained of it – shattered once Eatos was taken down by the Nameless Pharaoh. The soothing voice that had been battling with the Orichalcos immediately abated after Eatos left with her gentle smile, and Raphael could feel the tendrils of the Orichalcos shooting out and clenching his heart in victory.

Raphael lowered his head, letting the pulsating dark energy consume him.

Darkness. True, unbridled, raw, passionate _Darkness_. Raphael let it envelop him, and began to clench his fists. Eventually, the Seal began to glow and hum with his own heartbeat, and the mark on his head glowed red.

And at that moment, Raphael knew he was connected to something far beyond himself.

Raphael exhaled softly, and glared at the Nameless Pharaoh. He then explained about Dreadscythe, his ultimate monster, the embodiment of Darkness.

The second reason Raphael was terrified of Dreadscythe was that he knew it represented his utmost inner darkness. The creature was _him_.

But with the Seal filling him with strength and sense of duty, he pushed back his feelings and summoned forth Dreadscythe.

The Pharaoh was horrified. Raphael smirked internally as he realised this. With Dreadscythe, he dominated the duel and pushed the Pharaoh near breaking point once more. Raphael was assured of his destiny, assured of his victory, until the Pharaoh played that card and showed him images of his past.

How _dare_ he?

These were memories and events that Raphael had worked hard to put in the past. He had accepted them as a driving force of fate – if they hadn't happened, he wouldn't have met Master Dartz and known his purpose – but that did not mean he wanted to see them, or that the Pharaoh had any right to bring them up!

And yet...

The memories of himself first playing the Seal showed him how Dreadscythe truly came to be. A fallen Eatos.

Before, those were just words to Raphael. But now, after seeing himself first play the Seal... and seeing Eatos fall beneath the ground like that, he had to acknowledge a singular truth: Dreadscythe was an abomination.

And yet, it was a part of him, and there was nothing he could do.

Wait... there was.

With what he knew to be his final moments, Raphael decided to make amends to his monsters, to apologise for all the unnecessary pain he had put them through.

To beg their forgiveness for corrupting them so.

With all his Guardians revived – except for _that_ one – Raphael smiled even as his Life Points hit zero. Because he knew one thing; he could see the spirits of his friends, his family, and he knew they forgave him.

And the Seal did not take him.

Could one's inner darkness really be conquered?

* * *

A/N: Well... that happened. I was searching for a Yu-Gi-Oh! OST on Youtube, found Raphael's theme and Dartz's theme. Both are awesome. Listened to both and got inspired to write this. Of all Doma's henchmen, Raphael interests me the most (more so than Dartz) because I feel that unlike his comrades, he truly hates what he has to do – at least, that's the impression I get. But that could just be me.

This was written start to finish, briefly proof-read and uploaded, so chances are there's going to be some errors. Any reviews are welcome. Now I am going to get some sleep, because this idea would go away and now I'm tired D:


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